Early this week, PepsiCo's headquarters in the US witnessed a high-profile exit. The person who quit the beverages major was an Indian, Vibha Paul Rishi, 45, who was managing the company's non-cola beverage brands, a portfolio that includes such globally thirsted-after (or so hoped) drinks as Mirinda, 7-Up and Mountain Dew. Unlike Indra Nooyi, who rose to the upper echelons of PepsiCo as an executive in America, Rishi has for the most part of her Pepsi career been an Indian market whiz "" and one who was especially active in India's so-called "cola wars" of the 1990s.
And so the news of her departure spread through PepsiCo's Gurgaon headquarters here with the fizzy force of a bottle of Pepsi overshaken and uncapped.
For the most part, that was a measure of her goodwill among co-workers in India, many of whom are willing to disclose names and mobile numbers of people who could talk about her.
Actually, so could so many people who weren't even colleagues, so well known is she. "Vibha's girl-next-door tag is evident from the fact that she was willing to move with her husband Sanjay Rishi twice in the last three years. First to the US, and now to the UK," says a Delhi-based "cola journalist" who claims to know her well.
Sanjay Rishi, a senior executive with American Express in India, moved to the US in 2003 with an enviable promotion. The story has been repeated this year, taking his family to London this time round.
Vibha Paul Rishi, who is also closely related to Wipro's former star Vivek Paul, has been in the Indian cola limelight ever since Pepsi's ad with Remo Fernandes and the little girl made magic in India.
As head of marketing, she helped steer the brand Pepsi through its "high" phase of cheeky "Nothing official about it" advertising (by HTA) that upstaged the relatively sedate Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the 1996 cricket World Cup.
"The 'Nothing Official' campaign put cola ads on a completely different pedestal," says a former colleague, "At that time, it was a totally different approach and a big departure from the run-of-the-mill ads we used to see."
Rishi is a product of the prestigious Tata Administrative Service (TAS), the private sector equivalent of the IAS. Prior to which she got her MBA from FMS Delhi. Pepsi's first three years in India, starting from 1989, was in partnership with Voltas, a Tata Group company.
When that partnership broke, she stuck with Pepsi, and rose through the ranks to get one of the country's most exciting marketing jobs.
Still, as a mother of two children (Varun and Sanjana), she appears to put her family first, according to a former secretary from her Indian market days.
But aren't global businesses so much more accommodating of family relocations nowadays?
"Unfortunately, there are no positions in the UK that Pepsi can offer her that will fit her level," sighs a former colleague in India.
It is still not known what job she plans to do in London. Legions of fans back home in India will be watching closely. Nothing official, of course.
